GOOD TASTE

Food Studio B

Creating healthy, organic and tasty meals is a passion and an art for Chef Sean P. Butler in his new and thriving Greystone eatery “where nature meets the kitchen.”

Details:

Food Studio B

5511 U.S. Hwy. 280 E. Ste. 109,
Greystone Park
965-3682
Hours: Mon.-Fri.
6:30 a.m.-4 p.m.
foodstudiob.com

by Mary Ellen Stancill
You’ve heard that the grass is always greener on the other side of the hill? Well this time the saying really is true.

Top the hill from Greystone on U.S. Highway 280 and you’ll find Food Studio B, offering meals prepared with fresh, organic and local ingredients by Chef and Owner Sean P. Butler. For Butler, cooking with locally-grown, organic foods, composting and recycling isn’t simply the latest trend in the restaurant business, it’s just the way he’s always done things.

He spent his childhood cooking in his grandmother’s restaurant in Austria, attended the Natural Gourmet Institute in New York, was a venue chef for the Olympics, served as the executive chef for Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Alabama and developed meals for his own father who had congestive heart failure. When his son Brayden (now 2 years old) was born, he started Food Studio B to provide Brayden and the general public with fresh, healthy food options.

Food Studio B started out with a focus on catering, structured meal plans and home meal replacement (which remains the largest portion of Butler’s venture) with a small seating area for café dining. But the café has been such a success that hours are now 6:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. with plans to expand the seating capacity, hours and the possibility of more locations.

Breakfast includes fresh pastries made in house, fresh squeezed juices, homemade preserves, whole wheat biscuits and French pressed coffee from Higher Ground Roasters. Three of us from Birmingham magazine missed the breakfast feast but arrived for a late lunch at the counter where we watched Chef Butler prepare our meals after taking our orders and serving us water in recycled wine bottles.

One co-worker chose a daily special, the “Hot and Sloppy” sandwich, that satisfactorily lived up to its name and was met with an enthusiastic cheer of “Go Hot and Sloppy” by Chef Butler. Another chose fish tacos, and I had the chili crusted pork tenderloin wrap—both entrees were just spicy enough for our liking, were served on Earthborn pottery and provided plenty of leftovers for supper.

Sides ranged from spicy slaw to a pasta salad chocked full of veggies to our hands-down favorite, the grape salad—a mixture of organic green grapes, cream cheese, sour cream, vanilla, sugar cane, brown sugar and pecans. The “grape goo” was gone before we could try pairing it with the recommended slice of pound cake and glass of milk. We finished our meal splitting a white chocolate and cranberry cookie as a local farmer and her son came in to pick up Butler’s compost for the day. One co-worker later commented, “I left feeling healthier than when I arrived.”
January Birmingham, Alabama

  

 
Digital Newstand

View Magazine

bmag buzz

What are you doing
this Weekend?
 



 
bmag bonus


This Month's Giveaway ...
Tickets to the Rigling Brothers Barnum and Bailey Circus, which will be in Birmingham from Jan. 28-Feb. 1.

Sign up for our weekly e-newsletter,
the bmag buzz, and be automatically entered for your chance to win!